I inspected one of my hives today. It's the 1st year for this colony as I just installed them from a package this last Spring 2012. All through the hive consisting currrently of 3 medium 8 frame boxes there was only about 16 to 20% capped brood. I think that might be normal because they are Russian and not Italian and there has been a derth around here I think. The bee population seems to me to be ok, flying in and out as normal with some bringing pollen in. There is very much just open comb with nothing but bees crawling on it. I saw no honey at all :eek:. I think I better feed.
A couple years I bought a large quantity of honey from a local supplier to make mead. I thought he cut me a good deal on it but, the honey is very strange and not suitable to eat or for mead. I actually did make mead with it and ended up dumping it. It seems the bees must have made if from a melting cattle nutrition block or something and not from nector. It's practicly black and looks like sluge from an old engine back before moter oil had detergent in it. I thought about just dumping it, but if it is better to feed bees as apposed to sugar syrup, that would be better. How many pounds of honey to water should I use to heat and mix or just feed it to them straingt in a shallow dish or something?

08-10-2012, 05:15 PM

BeeCurious

Re: Anyone ever feed honey to your bees, what ratio?

I wouldn't feed that to my bees...

08-10-2012, 05:17 PM

Keth Comollo

Re: Anyone ever feed honey to your bees, what ratio?

I wouldn't touch it. Sugar syrup.

08-10-2012, 05:19 PM

sqkcrk

Re: Anyone ever feed honey to your bees, what ratio?

Were I to feed honey I would feed it in the same consistency as bees are used to eating it, uncut.

08-10-2012, 05:45 PM

johnth78

Re: Anyone ever feed honey to your bees, what ratio?

I wouldn't feed my bees anyones honey but their own and sugar is cheap. if it is truly inedible dump it.

08-10-2012, 07:08 PM

LampBurner

Re: Anyone ever feed honey to your bees, what ratio?

It's really not inedable, but just undesirable to people. It might be fine to the bees. I have eaten a little of it and didn't get sick or anything. It's just the weardest honey I ever saw. Everyone I have ever shown it to that checked it out agrees. It has actually turned solid and it cannot even be poured out of the plastic jug it is in without being heated. It was that way when I got home with it when I bought it. I took to back to the guy and implied for him to refund me or something but he wouldn't. He just said it is wildflower honey and he didn't know why it was that dark.

08-10-2012, 07:20 PM

BeeCurious

Re: Anyone ever feed honey to your bees, what ratio?

From the sound of it, the "homeless wineo's" would most likely have accepted your mead, and then, discreetly dumped it out to avoid embarrassing you...

Just toss the jug of honey out.

08-10-2012, 08:18 PM

the kid

Re: Anyone ever feed honey to your bees, what ratio?

as I have a;ways been told ,,, NEVER FEED any honey excepet from your bees to your bees ,, as you never know what the bees had ,, like ,, AFB ,, ,, and the stuff you are talking about sounds unfit for man or bees ,, do not dump that on the ground ,, your bees will get in to it .. dump it down the drain ...

08-10-2012, 09:05 PM

LampBurner

Re: Anyone ever feed honey to your bees, what ratio?

BeeCurious that is rather ignorant of you to write such an irrelivent thing. I get on here looking for useful unformation and get nothing but nearly redundant answers. I don't think it was a redundant question. I need to do my own research about some things and this is one of them.
If I don't have a useful answer to someone's question on here without makeing them look bad or stupid I just don't comment.

08-10-2012, 10:01 PM

tsmullins

Re: Anyone ever feed honey to your bees, what ratio?

Quote:

Originally Posted by LampBurner

How many pounds of honey to water should I use to heat and mix or just feed it to them straingt in a shallow dish or something?

Another downside to feeding honey is robbing. Honey can set off robbing like none other.

If you do feed that honey back to a weak colony, keep a very close eye for robbing. We fed honey from a cutout back to the cutout bees. We put a feeder jar on top of the inner cover, and then set an empty hive body on top of the inner cover. We also closed the entrance down to very small. Just a bee or two could pass.

The honey you describe sounds very much like buckwheat honey.

HTH,

Shane

08-10-2012, 10:21 PM

BeeCurious

Re: Anyone ever feed honey to your bees, what ratio?

Quote:

Originally Posted by LampBurner

BeeCurious that is rather ignorant of you to write such an irrelivent thing. I get on here looking for useful unformation and get nothing but nearly redundant answers. I don't think it was a redundant question. I need to do my own research about some things and this is one of them.
If I don't have a useful answer to someone's question on here without makeing them look bad or stupid I just don't comment.